Tuesday night’s FA Cup third-round replay between West Ham and Everton had everything the competition could possibly want.

There were goals, controversy and end-to-end drama before the unlikely hero — West Ham goalkeeper Adrian — discarded his gloves and calmly side-footed home the decisive penalty in the shootout. It was a riveting, old-fashioned cup tie. Unfortunately it came too late for the FA’s beleaguered commercial department.

The FA concede they face a losing battle in their botched search this season for someone to sponsor their flagship tournament.

Adrian is mobbed after scoring West Ham’s winner in one of the most memorable games of the season

Adrian fired home the winning spot kick after hurling his gloves to floor during his run-up

THE DONE DEALS

Premier League

Barclays: £40m per year

Football LeagueChampionship, League 1, League 2

Sky Bet: £6m

League Cup

Capital One: £5.5m

Football League Trophy

Johnstone’s Paint: Unavailable

Conference Premier, North, South

Vanarama: £700,000

Northern and Southern Premier Leagues and Division 1

Evo-Stik: Unavailable

Isthmian Premier, North, South

Ryman: Unavailable

When the top nine tiers of English football — and indeed any sports competition worth its salt — draw in millions of pounds in sponsorship, it seems ludicrous that the FA Cup lacks a backer. It is even more extraordinary that the FA have failed to find a partner when the new TV rights contract this season has seen the return of the BBC, who have given the tournament huge exposure over many platforms, with viewing figures up.

It is not as if the FA did not have time to find a sponsor. It was known well over a year ago that Budweiser were ending their £9million-a-year deal. The FA were so confident of attracting a new backer at the same price — or higher — that they were briefing before the World Cup about a set of global partners to go with the main sponsor.

Even last October, general secretary Alex Horne was adamant that a sponsor would ‘definitely’ be in position before the third round. But this has not happened and the fact that Horne is leaving at the end of the month does not help the sponsorship search. The FA say their hunt has been made more difficult by the price being beyond many UK-only budgets — they were looking for £10m-a-year-plus at the start — and attracting global corporations is tough. One company, understood to be another beer brand, was close to signing but the deal fell away.

The FA have only themselves to blame for asking too high a price for a tournament that is in danger of losing its way in this Premier League-dominated era. Even Newcastle, a team with no relegation worries and for whom the Cup offers a rare chance of silverware, still fielded a weakened team.

Holders Arsenal continue the defence of their crown with a trip to Brighton at the end of the month

Newcastle were one of several teams to field an under-strength side as the Magpies crashed out to Leicester

The FA also chose to revamp their commercial department ahead of the FA Cup hunt, parting company with experienced executives in Peter Daire and Sean McAuliffe and bringing in Phil Barker, Manchester United’s global sales manager, to add some of Old Trafford’s successful strategies.

But United’s ‘scalpel’ tactics of splitting up sponsorships around the globe, as well as dressing up personalised branding for any potential backer, is plainly yet to work at Wembley.

The FA board have been remarkably relaxed about the failure of commercial director Stuart Turner and his team to secure a Cup sponsorship but now they may have to contemplate the unthinkable and consider offering full FA Cup naming rights rather than the ‘in association with’ partnership to kick-start the search.

If so, it would herald an ignominious chapter for football’s oldest competition.